Apparently Boston sports fans have been so focused on what Tom Brady is going to do to the Jets secondary they forgot to vote for the NBA All-Star Game starters.

How else do you explain the latest release of NBA All-Star voting which drops two Celtics from the starting lineup? Chicago’s Derrick Rose has leapfrogged Rajon Rondo for the second starting guard spot in the East. At the same time, the Knicks Amar’e Stoudemire has passed the injured Kevin Garnett for the second starting forward spot.

The leads are not large — Rose is just 54,264 votes ahead of Rondo, while Stoudemire leads Garnett by a healthier 93,847 (that may be hard to make up). If the voting doesn’t change, the Celtics would have no starters in the All-Star Game. Which seems wrong.

The rest of the positions remain the same from the last round of released votes. In the East, Miami’s Dwyane Wade would start with Rose at guard; LeBron James would start at forward with Stoudemire, and Orlando center Dwight Howard remains the highest vote getter in the East overall and would start as well.

If Anthony and his 945,720 votes were traded to the New Jersey Nets or New York Knicks (or any team in the East) before the game his votes would travel with him. And that vote total would have him fourth among Eastern forwards, still well behind James, Stoudemire and Garnet. Meanwhile, Pau Gasol is third in the Western Conference forward balloting and likely would move up to start.

The other question is center for the West — word that Yao Ming is out for the season has apparently not reached China, where voters keep punching his ticket to Los Angeles for the game. He is hundreds of thousands of votes ahead of second place Andrew Bynum of the Lakers.

When (not if, when) Yao is selected, the Western Conference coach (come on down, Gregg Popovich) gets to select who will start at center. He could choose Bynum, or he could slide a forward playing a lot of center for his team — Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan — over to the slot to alleviate the log jam at Western Conference forward. Popovich is not bound by the ballot fans have when he makes his choices.

Voting is still open and will remain open for 10 more days. The fan voting selects the five All-Star game starters. The coaches then select the seven reserve players. NBA Commissioner David Stern then adds a 13th player to the roster.

NBA All-Star Weekend will take place Feb. 18-20 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Dont think that football reference holds up seeing as both the Bears and the Jets are in the playoffs too. But in any event, starting an All-Star game is a bit overrated, plus im sure Doc Rivers would gladly see both Garnett, Rondo sit the entire game out and rest.